Beauty Is More Than Skin Deep
by Starsong
Summary: Warning for violence and theme. Wildwing is thrown into a twisted future, and what he finds there is more horrifying than anything Dragaunus has done. (No, not your standard nega-verse fic) Takes place after Life and Death, but before Letter to Home.


Wow! What do you know! A plot! 

Um, it gets kind of violent towards the end... 

* * *

  
**Beauty Is More Than Skin Deep**

"Where do you want this, Mari?" Wildwing grunted as he muscled ANOTHER disgustingly heavy box into the apartment. 

"Uh..." Marilyn checked the side of the box. "My room." 'Not like there are that many choices,' Wildwing thought to himself as he carried the load to its assigned location. The apartment was small, but it Marilyn had insisted it was perfect for her and the child that would be joining her before long. The human doctor rested her hands on the large bulge of her stomach and looked around. "I think that's about it," she sighed. 

"This was the last box down there," Lila gasped as she entered the room, bracing against the door way to keep her balance as she got a better grip on the bulky object. She carried it in, set it down, and stretched. "It's a long way up those stairs, Mari, are you sure you can handle that every day?" 

"The landlord gave me a key to the elevator," Mari answered, "So I should be-- She gasped. 

"What?" Lila and Wildwing demanded. Marilyn just smiled up at them, eyes shining. 

"It's kicking," she answered, her voice reverent. Lila gasped and went over to her friend. Mari guided her hands to the right spot, and Lila's face lit as she felt the life move beneath her palm. She looked up at Wildwing, who was standing there looking confused. 

"Human babies are born live," Lila explained to him. "Sometimes they move inside the womb. Come here, you've got to feel this." Wildwing flushed but Lila caught his hand and pulled him over. His eyes widened as he felt the baby's strong, healthy kick. Lila smiled at the look on his face, and the three stood together, silent for a moment. 

The quiet was shattered as the phone ring, and Marilyn broke away to answer it. 

"Wow," was all Wildwing could say. Lila smiled and touched her friend's face. 

"Thanks for helping us, Wing, I know that was a lot of work." 

"If I'd have known that one woman and an unborn kid could have so much stuff, I'd have conned the guys into helping me," he grinned. "But it was no problem. Are you coming back with me, or are you staying to help unpack?" 

"I think I'm going to give Marilyn a hand for a while," Lila told him. "Help her get settled. This can't be easy, she may get upset, especially if we end up unpacking anything that belonged to Jonathan..." 

"Right," Wildwing said grimly, "You may be here until late then." He handed her a set of keys. "You take the cycle, I'll walk back." 

"Are you sure?" Lila frowned. 

"I'll be fine, it's a nice day." 

"Ok." 

Wildwing smiled and turned to leave, waving to Mari, who was still on the phone. He--almost literally--bumped into Captain Klegghorn on his way out. "Captain," Lila smiled. "Come on in, Marilyn'll be glad to see you." Wildwing looked after them for a moment, and went down the stairs, remembering the look in Klegghorn's eyes. 

Jonathan McClennon had been killed in the line of duty a little over four months ago, just after his wife Marilyn's pregnancy had been discovered. Jonathan had been one of Klegghorn's officers for years, and Wildwing could see that Klegghorn still blamed himself for the younger man's death. It suddenly occurred to him to wonder if the police captain seemed so snappy and uptight because he was worried about the men under his command, and the people he was supposed to be protecting. 

It then occurred to him to wonder if he came off the same way. 

Nah... 

Wildwing emerged into the Anaheim sunlight and stuck his hands in his pockets, breathing in the fresh air as he started to walk and immediately choking on the fumes of some souped up sports car. He glared after the car for a moment, then headed for the Pond. 

A scream from an alleyway caught his attention, and he rushed over to see what was going on, morphing to battle gear on the way. His vision blurred momentarily as the Mask appeared on his face, then cleared into the red-tinted view that told him he was now looking through the eyes of the ancient relic. 

A young woman was pinned against the wall by her wrists, afraid but defiant as she glared at the greasy thug that held her captive. A couple of his friends stood behind him, grinning in anticipation. 

"Three against one woman. I wouldn't have thought thugs like you could be that brave." Wildwing stepped out of the shadows, the eyes of the Mask glowing red. The thugs looked at each other, then at him. The leader shrugged. 

"Somebody get rid of the freak show," he said in disgust. "I've got more interesting entertainment planned for today." His buddies advanced on Wildwing. 

"In broad daylight, no less," he shook his head. The two guys charged him. Wildwing activated his iceshield and planted his feet. They collided with him and he knocked them backwards again. 

"Then," Wildwing continued, "You try to take on some one who's obviously better equipped and better experienced than any of you." With that, he MOVED, and the two lackeys were out for the count. 

"And you don't even bother to do it yourself," he finished, walking toward the leader. The young man dropped the wrists of the woman he'd been bullying, and displayed more intelligence than Wildwing would have believed him capable of. He ran. Wildwing activated his jet blades and in less than a second the crook was dangling by his collar a foot off the ground as the big duck carried him back to his victim. 

"I think you owe this lady an apology," he said, holding him in front of the woman. The crook tried to stammer an apology, and the young woman, obviously in an unforgiving mood, pulled her pepper spray on him. Wildwing chuckled and watched the little cretin run from his would-be victim, clutching at his eyes as she chased him down the street, screaming at him. He started back out to the street, hoping that little encounter hadn't made him late for practice. Considering the number of lectures he'd given Nosedive on that very subject, Wildwing didn't doubt that his brother wouldn't let him forget it if he was late even once, no matter the reason. 

Wildwing turned quickly as he heard what sounded like an explosion in the alley behind him. He stared for a moment in surprise as a vortex opened in front of him. It wasn't like the gateways, though, those were chaotic on the inside, but fairly controlled, the gate shaped into a roughly circular, swirling portal. This was different, its shape contorted, straightened out, stretched, and acted generally unstable. Wildwing felt a too-familiar pull, and he activated his jet blades. 

Too late. This twisted portal was even stronger than the ones Dragaunus created, and he was slowly dragged backwards. His feet lifted off the ground, and he flew into the open maw of the waiting vortex. 

And began to scream. Pain became the only sensation he was aware of, assaulting him from every direction, invading each of his senses. He felt as though he were burning, as if parts of him were being ripped and cut, as if he were freezing, as if his bones were being crushed-- 

Then abruptly it all stopped, except for one last, painful jolt as he fell to the ground. He lay there, breathing heavily, but otherwise not moving. Slowly his senses recovered somewhat. First he heard sounds--voices, shouts, and was it...explosions? Gunfire? 

Smell was next. Sulfur. Smoke. Things that he only recognized from Tanya's lab experiments, others that he remembered from the Invasion. Blood, for one. Death. 

Next came the realization that he was lying on something hard, cold, and uneven. He could feel the sharp, jagged pieces of rock through his suit, on his legs and arms where his armor didn't cover them. He was lying on the ground. He thought about opening his eyes, but only made it half way before the world spun, giving him a short, blurred image of building's burning, people running back and forth shouting and firing, before the blackness claimed him. 

*** 

Creature picked her way through the rubble, running in her half-crouched way, scurrying around like a pack rat hunting for treasure amidst the destruction. "Mess," she murmured, shying away from a body laying face down, red staining its back. "Mess mess mess mess... She tripped and fell with a strangled cry. "Poor Creature," she sniffled, in her quiet way, "Poor Creature." She got up and began moving again, darting forward into the light for moments at a time to grab whatever caught her eye. "Presents," she exclaimed gleefully, her voice not rising above a whisper. Something shone in the debris, and she circled it warily, moving cautiously closer. When she saw what it was, she gasped and darted back into the shadows. She huddled there a moment, shaking. 

"Beautiful," she squeaked, wincing as if she were in pain. "Beautiful...gone...lost...beautiful... She started back again, and knelt in the rubble by the shining object. "Wake..." she whispered. "Wake and run... She put her arms around the figure lying there, his armor glinting in the light, and began to drag him away. "Heavy." Though he was easily twice her weight, perhaps more, she dragged him, still moving in a half-crouch, across the remains of the battlefield. "Home," she whispered. 

*** 

Wildwing began to drift toward consciousness again. Something was different. He was on his back, for one thing, rather than his stomach. No more jagged edges poked him, and while what he was laying on couldn't qualify as soft, it was fuzzy, beneath his hands. 

Beneath his hands. He wasn't wearing his armor anymore. His eyes flew open, and he gazed up through his own eyes. The Mask. It was gone too. For a moment he panicked, staring at the dank roof above him. Then other concerns overrode his immediate worry. Such as where he was, what he was doing there, and how he was going to get home. He sat up, slowly, willing the dizziness away. 

Then he noticed that one of his arms had been bandaged, and, touching it, he winced. Those rock pieces he'd felt beneath him must have cut him. Both his legs were bandaged, too, and a small cut on his forehead had also been tended. He looked around. The room he was in was small, dark, and grungy. It was filled with junk, arranged artistically around the floor and room. His armor looked distinctly out of place in a pile on the floor beside the bench where he lay. The fuzzy feeling beneath him was a thin blanket. 

Wildwing turned his head sharply, tensed, as he heard a noise. It wasn't coming from the direction of the door, it sounded more like it was above, and to his left. 

He barely managed not to yell in surprise as one of his gauntlets dropped from the ceiling. Wildwing looked up to the ventilation shaft and gasped as a thin, hunched figure leapt to the ground. Wildwing stared in horror. 

Once, it must have been a duck. Its beak was twisted and scarred on its right side. No feathers grew on the right side of its face or on its right arm, which it held close up against her body. The arm was twisted, as if had broken and not healed right. The bare skin was hideously scarred. One eye was milky white, and its close-cropped hair covered a little over half of its head. It crouched across from him, cowering back a little at his look of revulsion. 

"Wildwing thinks I'm beautiful," it murmured, with a little half smile, though it looked as if it might cry. Tears stood in her eyes. It looked toward him a little more with its good eye, and Wildwing gasped in horror. The undamaged eye was dark brown, the feathers that sparsely covered the left side of the creature's face were a lighter, dusty brown. Her hair was filthy, but Wildwing would have bet money that beneath all that dirt it was a dark mahogany. 

"Lila?" he gasped. She started to move away, and tears seeped out of her roving eyes. 

"Beautiful..." she whispered, as if in shame, and drew back further. 

"Wait!" Wildwing stood up, too quickly, and she bolted with a shriek of pain or anger, leaping for the air duct faster than he would have believe she could move. Wildwing waited a moment, but she didn't reappear. 

He sighed and put on his armor. 'What's going on here?' he thought. 'What kind of crazy world have I wound up in this time?' He thought of his sweet, lovely friend, and suppressed a shudder. How could she have ever become that-- 

"Creature... She was back, peering down through the ventilation shaft. "Poor Creature," she sniffled. Wildwing got under the vent and looked up. She shrank away. "Wildwing thinks I'm beautiful..." 

'Beautiful, huh? Well...' "Pretty girl," Wildwing said, holding a hand out towards the vent. "Come here, pretty girl." She chortled, a twisted sound that made Wildwing want to wince as he remembered Lila's clear, musical laugh. He stepped back and Creature dropped to the ground again. She looked up at him hopefully, crouched on the ground. 

"Present," she smiled, "Present." She pulled a pouch off her belt. "Presents!" Moving slowly, Wildwing took it from her and examined the contents. With immense relief, he discovered the Mask. He sighed, and then glanced down as she moved to crouch beside him, leaning on his leg. She touched his bandage, and smiled up at him as if looking for approval. He patted her head, trying to ignore the discomfort he felt at treating one of the most intelligent women he knew like a small child, or a puppy begging for attention. The bag held several useless odds and end, but other things as well. "Present for Tanya," Creature whimpered as he examined what looked like a piece of a computer circuit. 

"Can you take me to Tanya?" he asked her. She blinked at him, her good eye still on the piece he held, as if she were afraid he would take it away. Wildwing placed it back in the pouch and handed it back to her. She took it almost shyly, and put it back on her waist before clinging to his leg again. "Pretty girl," he said, reaching down and stroking what hair she had, trying not to shudder. "Pretty girl, can we go visit Tanya?" She grinned and started for the vent. Wildwing frowned. "Clever girl, but I don't think I can get up there." She tugged at his hand. He shook his head. Creature's face fell. 'She thinks I don't want to go with her.' He tried not to think about the girl he knew, tried not to compare her with this creature that was obviously no longer in full possession of her senses. 

After a little more coaxing and attempted explanations, he gently took her hand and led her towards the door. She shrank away a little when he opened it, but she gripped him tightly. "Poor Creature," she whimpered. 

"You're a pretty creature," Wildwing corrected, "Come on, let's go give Tanya her presents." Creature smiled bravely. 

"Wildwing thinks I'm beautiful," she murmured, letting him lead her out in the sun. She dragged him into the shadows as soon as he let her take the lead, and he followed her cautiously, not liking what he saw around him at all. The place looked like a war zone. Thick, black smoke rose from various parts of the city, buildings lay in rubble all around him. He shuddered as he realized that Creature was leading him, in a roundabout way, towards the Pond. 

She led him around the back, and they snuck in through a small door. Wildwing frowned as he watched Creature skulk around the hallways as if she were still afraid of being seen. Why should she fear in her own home? 

"Divey," Creature whispered, as if calling him. "Divey...present..." she continued the singsong whisper for herself as they moved slowly along. Wildwing was getting impatient. Finally Creature led him through the door to Dive's bunk. He was sitting at a desk, of all things, with his back to the door. 

"Divey..." Creature whispered, coming up by his side like a puppy begging to be petted. Dive started and looked at her with distaste and concern. Wildwing's stomach dropped below his feet. His baby brother was at least the same age as he, perhaps a year or so older. 

"Where have you been?" he sighed. "Better stay out of Duke's way, he's not too happy right now." 

"Duke!" she said cheerfully. "Duke, Uncle Duke..." she giggled mindlessly. Nosedive sighed again. 

"You know he hates it when you call him that," he told her half-heartedly, as if he knew she wouldn't listen. He turned back to his desk. Creature tugged his arm. 

"Divey, present. Present." Nosedive finally turned and stood. 

"What?" he said irritably. Creature skittered away at his tone, hiding behind Wildwing, who still stood in the door. Nosedive's jaw dropped and he stood. 

"Wildwing thinks I'm beautiful," Creature said quietly. Nosedive continued to stare. 

"You're dead," he said flatly. 

"And you're old," Wildwing returned, frowning. "Where the heck am I? What's going on around here." Nosedive reached for his com. 

"Duke," he said, "I think you'd better come down here. Bring Tanya." He looked back at Wildwing, who stepped inside the room. Creature followed him, still crouched behind his legs, holding his knees. 

"Creature," Dive shifted his eyes to the figure cowering behind his brother. "Come here, Creature." 

Creature didn't move. 

"Creature?" Wildwing said in annoyance. "She's one of your teammates, bro. No matter what she looks like." Nosedive shook his head. 

"What was left of our teammate was destroyed long ago," he said with a seriousness that frightened Wildwing. To prove his point he called her again. "Lila, come here." 

Creature's eyes widened and she fell to the floor, gripping her head. "No!" she cried. "No, no!" She curled up. "Dragaunus--Wildwing--no--stop--don't hurt him--" She screamed. "You poor creature," she sighed, in a voice that wasn't quite her own. "Run...home..." She continued to babble incoherently. Wildwing knelt beside her, alarmed. 

"See what I mean? She gets like that whenever she's reminded of who she used to be." Nosedive said matter-of-factly. He watched as Wildwing tried to calm her. "How did you get here?" he asked abruptly. 

"I'm really not sure," Wildwing admitted. "Pretty girl," he soothed, "Sweet girl, come on." Creature unfolded from the ball she had curled into at his feet. 

"What's going on?" Duke demanded, striding into the room. Wildwing turned and swallowed another cry of shock. Duke's face was hard, lined with anger and worry, dark with hate. Duke stopped short when he saw Wildwing. 

"You're dead," he said accusingly. 

"So I've been told," Wildwing answered. 

"Guys, what-- Tanya started to ask as she walked in. She also stopped when she saw Wildwing. "You're--" she began disbelievingly. 

"Don't say it," Wildwing sighed. "You want to go ahead and get Mallory and Grin in here to add to the chorus?" 

"Mallory and Grin are dead too," Nosedive said quietly. Wildwing swallowed and closed his eyes. This place was a nightmare. 

"I'm sorry," he said. 

"How did you get here?" Duke demanded, his saber drawn. "If you're not dead, and you've been away for all this time--" 

"I was sucked out of my dimension by some messed up version of Dragaunus's dimensional gateway," Wildwing told them. "I don't know what caused it and I don't know how to get back, believe me if I did I'd already be there." 

Tanya started to say something but stopped as Creature slinked to her side and pulled on her hand. "Presents," she said, holding up the pouch. Tanya took it with a tolerant expression, and Creature immediately darted back behind Wildwing's legs, peering out at Duke fearfully. 

"What kind of portal?" Tanya asked, her eyes narrowing. Wildwing described it, and the blond tech spat a few words that Wildwing was sure the Tanya he was familiar with wouldn't even know. 

"The generator wasn't destroyed," she said angrily, turning to Duke. "We've got to go back there and finish the job. It sounds like it was damaged, but we've go to get rid of it for good." 

"Get to work on the plans," Duke growled. "Nosedive, find the maps and take care of this guy." He turned and stalked out. Creature reached out to touch his hand as he passed, and he swatted her away. "I thought I told you to keep that thing out of my sight," he snarled at Nosedive as he stalked out. Tanya sighed and sorted through the bag that Creature had given her, finding what she could use, and handed the rest back to the miserable, twisted duck, who was once more hiding behind Wildwing, crying softly, murmuring to herself. 

Wildwing's face was clouded with anger beneath the Mask, and reached down to touch Creature's face. She clung to his hand and gave him a watery smile. 

"Wildwing thinks I'm beautiful..." she murmured, as though that were all the comfort she needed. 

"Duke took her...injury, really hard," Nosedive said, looking at her with a pained expression. "He won't have anything to do with her." 

"How can he do that?" Wildwing growled. "Just because she's been hurt--" 

"Look at her, Wildwing, her mind deserted her a long time ago. Between the accident and losing--you, she went postal!" Nosedive glared at him. 

"What happened to her?" Wildwing asked, dreading the answer. Nosedive snorted. 

"Where do I start?" he muttered grimly. "We raided the Raptor," he sighed, looking up at the ceiling. "Dragaunus had come close to getting his engines restarted. We managed to stop them, but Lila," he forced himself to say the name, "Lila was captured. And you. Apparently Dragaunus put you to a slow death right in front of her, made her watch. Then he tortured her. We're not sure what all he did to her. He wanted her to tell him everything she knew about all of us, about Puckworld's allies and defenses, all that classified knowledge she had access to back on Puckworld. Tanya raided his database when we broke her out. Lila didn't tell him anything. Even to save you." 

Wildwing looked down at Creature. "Clever girl," he sighed, patting her head, trying not to think how she must have felt, every second etched with perfect clarity into her perfect memory. "Dragaunus would never have kept his word." 

"When we broke her out, she was already hysterical, half mad with pain, grief, and terror. We thought we could help her work through it, but then-- Nosedive closed his eyes and swallowed. "We went to stop a raid on a munitions dump. It was a trap. Duke, Tanya and I got out. Grin and Mallory didn't. Lila had followed us into the Migrator; she managed to get out of it and too close to the building. She got caught in the backlash of the explosion. That's why she's--After that, she lost it completely. She ran away, stayed away for days, and she never came back." He nodded to the pitiful creature clinging to his brother's hand. "Creature did. Duke went ballistic; you know how close they were. He can't stand to see her like this. As far as he's concerned--and Tanya and I are inclined to agree--Lila is dead. Destroyed by Dragaunus. He's forbidden us even to speak of her. He doesn't much like it when we bring up Grin, Mallory, or you either. Tanya and I still keep an eye on Creature, look out for her when we can, but... he shrugged. "What's the point in doing more? She'd be better off if she were dead for real." 

Creature hid her face in Wildwing's thigh. "Poor Creature," she whimpered. 

"So Duke's taken over as leader?" 

"Yes." Nosedive avoided his eyes. 

"What?" Wildwing said sharply. 

"You saw what it looked like outside?" 

"Yeah. It looks like a war zone." 

"It is. Duke's philosophy is that we do what we can, and it doesn't matter how much we destroy." 

"Are you saying you guys caused all that damage?" 

"Not all of it. Dragaunus has taken to random bombings now, to keep us off balance. Even though we don't have the Mask any more, with Drake 1 we're doing all right keeping track of him. He'd have bombed the Pond by now, I'm sure, if he thought it was going to do any good." He sighed and turned to the stack of plans and papers on his desk. "He seems to think that bombing innocents will lure us out into the open." 

"Doesn't it?" Wildwing asked, his eyes narrowed. Dive's back was rigid. 

"No." 

"Why not?" 

"Because now," Nosedive sighed again, an edge creeping into his voice, "We work more like the Brotherhood used to. You don't go rushing headlong into any job without a plan. If it becomes necessary, you improvise, but the only things that matter are getting the job done and getting out alive. Period." 

Hearing those words spoken in his brother's voice--even if it was deeper and more serious than Wildwing had ever heard it--was a shock Wildwing didn't feel prepared to handle. He turned on his heel and walked out with Creature at his heels. 

Wildwing burst through the doors of Tanya's lab. "How do I get out of this slimepit and back home?" he demanded without preamble. Tanya sighed and straightened, abandoning the small machine she had been working on. She took of her glasses and rubbed her eyes. 

"You help us break back in to destroy the gateway, and I'll send you through before it blows," she said matter-of-factly. 

"Deal," Wildwing spat. "What do I need to do?" 

"I don't know yet," Tanya turned back to her workbench. "I need one of these to set the gateway's self-destruct," she picked up a small piece of metal. "I've no idea where we're going to get one, though." 

"Can't you just set a bomb on it?" Wildwing wanted to know. 

"I can," Tanya gave him a withering look. "But that didn't really work the first time. Chances are a second blast will disable it completely, but if I can set the self-destruct, it'll be a lot more thorough, and a lot more certain." She thought for a moment, tossing the small part up an down in her hand. "Hey, Creature. Come here. Look what Taunny has for you!" Tanya leaned over and held the part out to Creature. She came out, cautiously, and looked at the part. She reached for it, and Tanya pulled it back. "Ah, ah, no." She held the part again. "Taunny needs another one, Creature. Can you find one for me? Bring me presents, Creature." 

Creature face brightened and she bolted out the door. 

"What are you doing?" Wildwing demanded. Tanya shrugged. 

"Sometimes she can find stuff I ask her for," she said nonchalantly. "I figure I might as well let her try." 

"She could be killed out there!" 

"It'd probably be better if she was." 

Wildwing was dumbfounded as Tanya turned away. 'Her own *cousin*...' 

He felt sick. 

*** 

Creature skittered through the shadows, eyes darting back and forth as she went, something in her scattered mind telling her where she must go and what she must do. She searched, picking through debris, rummaging through garbage and piles of scrap that were strewn across the city. 

A glinting object caught her eye, and she darted toward it, pulling away the garbage that covered it. What she saw made her freeze and stare, as forces clashed in the torn woman's mind, the memory of what she had been separating from the rest of her mind, away from what she had become, in a division so sharp it hurt. Like a flawlessly preserved movie, memories played across Creature's vision. 

_"Come on, Lila," Tanya laughed, pulling her down the hall. "You're going to keep him waiting."_

_"I'm coming, I'm coming," she sighed. "Honestly, I thought I was done with all these formal state dances when Dragaunus invaded."_

_"You wish," Tanya grinned. "I'm just glad Wildwing didn't ask me to go, I hate trying to walk around on shoes like that."_

_Lila balanced easily on the high-heeled shoes, her posture as perfect as always, and picked a piece of lint off the slit skirt of her champagne-gold, evening gown. She reached up to pat her hair, the chocolate waves piled up elegantly on her head, with a few graceful ringlets hanging down around her bare neck and shoulders. "I don't know why he asked me, anyway, these people don't want to see me."_

_"No, they want to see him, and he's afraid of messing up in front of them," Mallory said, walking up to them. "You're the resident expert on diplomacy, protocol, and etiquette, remember? I think he wants you around to cover for him if he does something stupid."_

_Lila sighed. Wildwing didn't really need her, he was perfectly capable of holding his own, but he was so unconfident..._

_"Come on, they're waiting," Mallory grinned, taking her other arm and helping Tanya pull her down the hall. "You look great."_

_The automatic doors slid open, and Lila shook free of her friends, determined to make her entrance under her own power._

_She stepped through, years of experience keeping her self-consciousness hidden behind a calm, diplomatic mask. Duke saw her first, and he rose to his feet immediately, surprised at the transformation his young friend had undergone. A lady, not a girl, stood before him now. Lila grinned at the look on his face._

_"You," he said, "look beautiful."_

_"No," Wildwing said, coming up behind Duke with a warm smile. "You ARE beautiful." Lila flushed with surprise and pleasure. 'Wildwing thinks I'm beautiful?' she thought as she took the arm he offered her. "Now, come on, we're going to be late," he said, smiling down at her._

"Wildwing thinks I'm beautiful," Creature murmured, shuddering and turning away from the cracked mirror she had uncovered, away from the reflection of a twisted, mangled, and mind-sick shell of a duck. The sharp edges of the memory blurred and became one with the rest of her ravaged mind, but it remained near the surface, and Creature started on her mission once more with a clearer sense of purpose than she had felt since Dragaunus' torture and her teammates' deaths had broken her mind so long ago. 

*** 

Wildwing was glad to exit the monstrosity that was the rebuilt and redesigned Migrator. He looked around at the rubble heap that was apparently all that remained of one of Dragaunus' bases outside the Raptor. The building slumped to one side, half of the south wall in its lower floor caved in on itself. It didn't look very safe to be around. 

"We're going to have to be careful," Tanya commented, looking at the crumbling warehouse. "Especially if Dragaunus has his drones trying to salvage the equipment in there." 

"So we'll do this real quiet," Duke growled. "As usual. Nosedive?" 

"There's a door on the East side," he answered, "It should offer the most cover once we're in." 

"Let's deal with this problem," Duke ordered harshly, and the words spoken by this hard, cold, version of his friend were far too familiar for Wildwing's comfort. 

Duke went in first, followed by Tanya, then Nosedive and Wing. They crept through the dilapidated building, and Wildwing prayed it would hold long enough for them to get this done and get out. The stairs were shot, and of course the gate was on the second floor. 'Figures,' he thought to himself as Duke sent a grappling hook up, and climbed. Tanya followed him. Nosedive started up, but he stopped just a few feet from the floor as something outside the window caught his eyes. 

"We got trouble, Duke!" Dive barked. "Drones!" 

"You two hold 'em off, we'll take care of the gate!" Duke called back, and Nosedive dropped to the ground. He and Wildwing got outside as quickly as they could and started firing, determined to keep the drones away from the fragile warehouse until the other two had finished. Wildwing was worried that Duke might destroy the generator without activating it, but he pushed the concerns aside as he concentrated on keeping them all from getting slagged by hunter drones. 

A wild cry startled him and something rammed into him. He fell to the ground, hard, with a weight across his back. He turned, and gasped. He twisted around and cradled Creature in his arms. A large laser blast meant for him had burned through her side, and she bled deep red. 

An unstable vortex opened not far from him, and Wildwing looked down at Creature, who was now struggling to breathe. 

"Wildwing thinks I'm beautiful," she gasped, reaching up to touch his face in a gesture that was so completely Lila that it brought tears to his eyes. 

"You ARE beautiful," he managed, leaning down to kiss her disfigured lips. He felt her last breath slip by and he laid her carefully down. Only then did he notice the small metal object clutched in her left hand. 

"Wildwing!" He looked up. "That thing's not going to last forever, bro," Nosedive said with a bitter smile. "Better get while the getting's good." Wildwing nodded and handed handed him the object Creature had been holding. 

"Tanya needs this to destroy the generator," he said. Nosedive took the part and looked at it, then he nodded. 

Wildwing turned and leapt through the gateway, and the pain enveloped him once more. Mercifully, he lost consciousness faster this time. 

*** 

When he came to, he was lying on a flat, familiar surface. A medicom bed. 

"Bro?" an anxious voice said. Wildwing turned his head, looking into the face of his brother. He sighed with relief to see that Nosedive was his proper age again. 

"You have no idea," Wildwing commented, closing his eyes for a moment. "How good it is to see you." 

"Welcome back to the land of the living," Duke walked up, smiling. "Where've you been, you had us all worried sick." 

"How long have I been gone?" Wildwing wanted to know. 

"Over night. Almost 24 hours now. I thought Lila was going to have a heart attack." 

Wildwing sat up and swung his legs over the edge of the bed. 

"I wouldn't do that, bro," Nosedive advised. "Lila'll have your head." 

"The way it feels right now, she can have it," Wildwing grimaced and stood up. He turned and embraced his brother. "It's sure good to see you, Nosedive." 

Nosedive raised his eyebrows. His brother was not generally an expressive man. "Would this be a good time to tell you that I sorta crashed the zamboni into the boards behind the away goal?" he quipped as he returned the hug. 

Wildwing sighed and released him. 

The doors opened and Lila rushed in. "Wildwing! Thank goodness, I was so worried, where have you been?" she demanded, all in one breath. 

"Lila!" Wildwing caught her around the waist and pulled her close to him, hugging her tightly. "Listen to me," he said, stepping back and looking her in the eye. He tilted her chin upward. "Lila, you are beautiful, no matter what you look like." With that, he walked out of the infirmary, leaving the three stunned ducks standing there. Nosedive and Duke went after him, while Lila just stood there, as if she were rooted to the floor. 

'Wildwing thinks I'm beautiful?' she thought in surprise, staring after him. 

________________ 

Mighty Ducks and all associated characters, with the exception of Lila LaGlace and any other original characters (who are the property of the author), belong to Disney and are used without permission. No copyright infringement intended. 


End file.
